State Symbols
Water Chemistry
Wildlife ID
Vocab
Mystery
100

What is New Mexico's state mammal?

What is the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)?

100

The quality that measures the clarity of water.

What is Turbidity? (JTU, NTU)

100

Upland, grassland-nesting bird, best known for its unique courtship displays and "gobbling" grounds.

What is the Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus)?

100

The state of the atmosphere at any given time and place.

What is weather?

100

The primary processes and stages of the water cycle

 (SPECIAL QUESTION: FOR EVERY ONE RIGHT, YOUR TEAM GETS ONE POINT)

What is... 

200

What is New Mexico's state bird?

 What is the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)?

200

When high, these two tests can indicate pollution form wastewater treatment plants, fertilized fields / yards, septic systems, etc.

What are Nitrates and Phosphates (ppm)?

200

Stocky mammals with short legs and small, rounded ears, gray ears, dark markings around their eyes, and black bands on tail.

What is a raccoon (Procyon Lotor)?

200

The act of passing all or part of winter in a dormant state where body functions is greatly slowed.

What is Hibernation?

200

The primary processes and stages of the carbon cycle.

(SPECIAL QUESTION: FOR EVERY ONE RIGHT, YOUR TEAM GETS ONE POINT)

What is...

300

What is New Mexico's state amphibian?

What is the New Mexico Spadefoot Toad (Spea multiplicata)?

300

The amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic conditions.

What is Biological Oxygen Demand (ppm)?

300

A ruminant mammal with antlers, a distinctive black forehead, a white rump patch and a small white tail with a black tip. 

What is a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)?

300

A practical way to measure the salinity of soils.

What is Electrical Conductivity (EC)?

300
A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

(SPECIAL QUESTION: DRAW ONE WITH YOUR TEAM, EXTRA POINTS FOR MORE COMPLEX AND THOUGHT OUT ANSWERS)

What is a Food Web?

400

What is New Mexico's state reptile?

What is the New Mexico Whiptail (Cnemidophorus neomexianus)?

400

Decreases to sometimes lethal levels during the process of eutrophication, harming aquatic organisms.

What is Dissolved Oxygen (ppm)?

400

An omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, with a grizzled gray coat, a black-tipped tail, and a white face, throat, and inner ears

What is the Grey Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)?

400

A pair of fins situated on either side just behind a fish's head, helping to control the direction of movement during locomotion

What are the Pectoral Fins?

400

The primary greenhouse gasses.

(SPECIAL QUESTION: FOR EVERY ONE RIGHT, YOUR TEAM GETS ONE POINT)

What is Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Industrial gasses (f-gasses), Water Vapor

500

What is New Mexico's state insect?

What is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp (Pepsis formosa)?

500

Directly affects the availability of different toxic metals to aquatic organisms.

What is pH (0-14)?

500

Plump, volleyball-sized birds with short necks, small bills, and square tails. Both sexes have a comma-shaped topknot of feathers atop their small heads

What is Gambel's quail (Callipepla gambelii)?

500

A very thin layer of growing tissue in a tree trunk where new xylem and phloem cells are formed. This is the layer that forms tree rings.

What is the Cambium?

500

The four typical patterns of fire behavior in a specific ecosystem over time?

(SPECIAL QUESTION: WHAT PHRASE IS THIS DESCRIBING, EVERY RIGHT ANSWER GETS A POINT)

What are Understory fires (forest), Stand-replacement fires (any vegetation type), Mixed-severity fires (forest), and Nonfire regimes?